I've been to the Summit

One of our local shops had a party to show off the new Martin Logan Summits. Some of the reps were there as well. I've heard several models of ML and I am a fan. But I feel the Summits may well be a new page for ML. They impressed me more than any of the previous models. Some might say they should with a price tag of $10k. They are by far the best ML I've heard to date. The system driving them was T+A, a pair of monoblocks, preamp and a very cool SACD player with tube circuitry. The SACD player was $9,500.00 if anyone was interested. The T+A was an awesome system that really showed off the Summits. The Summits mids & highs were very smooth. Not rolled off, yet they weren't in your face either. Each speaker has a pair of 10" inch drivers with internal 200 watt amp. The bass was fast and detailed. The Summits seemed to have the best of both worlds, the ML detail, clarity and soundstage yet the bass accuracy of a fine dynamic speaker. I got to listen for about 20 to 30 minutes with different music and I can't find any criticisms of this speaker. The frequency response sounded very balanced. My hat is off to ML they hit out of the ball park on the Summit.

The bass drivers are crossed at 270 Hz. They are said to play down to 24 Hz and from what I heard I believe they could do it. The sensitivity is 92 dB but before we get too excited one of the local sales personnel told me the impedance swings down to .7 ohms on the panel. I thought it was the bass drivers that made ML so hard to drive. There are a couple controls on the back to help equalize the bass, I can't remember what frequencies. The speaker overall had incredibly good sound and i don't mean to take anything away from the mids, highs and wonderful presentation but ML has always been criticized for their bass response. Some say it wasn't seamless, some in fact lacked bass, like the Aries and some claimed to hear gaps. On some old models the criticism may have been warranted but NOT on the Summit, it has excellent bass response and accuracy by any standard. It would definitely be on the top of my list if I had a $10k speaker budget.

This T+A stuff isn't cheap on a budget either but it offers a great value for the price. They are able to give much more expensive brands a run for their money and sometimes a spanking.

Speed costs, how fast do you want to go?

Sorry to be so hopelessly out of date...

Weren't the Prodigys also $10K ? Can you speak to the difference between the Prodigy and the Summit?

I heard the Prodigys driven by a Linn Climax ($19K) a Conrad Johnson ART II pre ($9K?) and a Mac CD player (model & price unknown) a couple or three grand of cable and maybe the best sound I've ever heard. Including the High and Mighty at the Stereophile show of 2004. All this for only $44,000 (guessing about the Mac). Let's see, if I skip lunch until I'm 148 years old....